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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Midwest is gearing up for its third major storm in a month, with up to a foot of snow expected barely a week after some cities saw record highs.

The storm system also could generate thunderstorms and tornadoes in parts of the South this weekend.

The National Weather Service says up to a foot of snow could start falling on northwest Kansas on Friday night, while Kansas City, Missouri, Indianapolis and Omaha, Nebraska could get up to 8 inches. Snow is expected to start in those cities late Saturday afternoon and continue through midday Sunday.

The system is expected to carry snow into the Northeast early next week.

In the South, forecasters say the system could spark tornadoes in Louisiana and Mississippi on Saturday.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Illinois farmer Mike Campbell and other drought-plagued growers are happy about a winter storm raking the nation's midsection.

From his acreage near Edwardsville, Campbell welcomed the snow. Like many farms, his soil in southwestern Illinois craves any moisture after a bone-dry growing season last year.

Climatologists say a foot of snow is roughly equal to an inch of water, depending on the snow's density. Campbell's region isn't getting quite that much, but the snow is important to growers of winter wheat. That crop goes dormant over winter before resuming growth in the spring, along the way using snow cover as a protective insulating blanket.

The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor update shows more than half of the continental U.S. still in some form of drought.